Bose 901 series 6 mk'2 with Reference McIntosh Gear...WOW!!

[ylee]

I bought my first Bose product ever a year ago. It is a Bluetooth speaker that cost about 120 bucks that I use to play music from my iPod in our bedroom as background music. For the price and intended use it sounds fine. The model I bought at Target sounded better than comparably priced JBL models on display. Bose is not a hi-fi brand, and everyone here knows that. It does however address a tier of the market populated by most of the general public. Pure audiophile companies have not targeted this market with as much effort so Bose is filling the void. When novices ask me for speaker advice I point them in the Polk Audio direction. Barely mid-fi but those guys do care about sound quality.

[frequentflyer]

So I am looking at getting some QC35 NC headphones for flying, and I noticed the 901 is no longer listed on the Bose website..........Did they (new management) wait till Mr. Bose passed away before finally canceling it?

[BuffaloBill]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

Paul Klipsch sees Amar Bose walking on the other side of the street.

Paul cups one hand on each side of his mouth and calls out, "Hey Amar, how are you today?"

Amar cups his hands in front of his mouth and calls back, "i'm fine, thank you!"



Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Randy Myers]

Back in the day I sold a TON of Bose. For people who never owned a decent stereo system and were putting together a little family sound system they have no idea of what good equipment sounds like. Bose was durable and filled the room and that is all they seemed to care about. So in that regards they were good. This type of customer could never seem to hear the difference showing them higher quality gear (after a certain level) so I finally got to the point where I gave up trying to convince at that level of customer. Although I was usually able to get most people to see the difference of getting into receivers like Yamaha versus the typical Sony, etc.

If you cared about music quality then Bose was not the choice, but for the average customer they very much were ....

I won at least 15 pair of AM5's from their points per sale system. Never opened a pair, but instead made some decent bonus money selling them ...

[frequentflyer]

The corporation waited a couple of years after Mr. Amir died, but the 901s are no longer offered for sale by Bose. The end of an era........or something.

[gadawg]

Have to admit that I started with a pair of Bose 501's and a Yamaha Integrated amp when I was 14 years old. Then as soon as I turned 16 and could drive I took Dad's pickup truck and traded it all in for a demo system for sale which was JBL L250TI's and an SAE stack. Needless to say I was blown away. Not much Mom acceptance factor though ... lucky for me it was a final sale!

[miner]

Hi, my name is Kevin, and I have owned some Bose 301s and 3 wave radios, and I am an audioholic.

[Rick721]

Maybe the 901's just needed a few tweaks to sing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmFc8KJrTmE

A lot of Tweaks to the Bose Equalizer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PObb0QF8dEo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjyqZBQWKNc&t

[damacman]

The 901 . . . fabled, revered, loved, and hated. I have heard properly set up 901s on a few different occasions and been just totally blown away. [This is absolutely a case of expectation bias in reverse, let me assure you.] And, I can't tell you how many times I personally uttered No highs, no lows - must be Bose during my two decades in the audio business.

Some time ago, in a city far far away, I was sitting in a bar enjoying a beer with a friend. The music was playing at a low volume - we were talking, not shouting. After an hour or so, I said to him (also an audio guy) that the system sounded just remarkable. He was like - you'll never believe it when you see it. I looked up - flown Bose 901s. I was totally caught off guard. I was expecting to see some EV, JBL, or Altec horn loaded stuff with strategically placed custom built subwoofers - NOT Bose speakers of any kind and certainly not readily available 901s.

Dr. Amar Bose, like him or not, was a scientist first and an audio guy second. His work in noise cancellation technology is remarkable. The way I understand it, his original idea for the speakers was to replicate the sound he heard watching an unamplified orchestra. According to his measurements, he determined that 11% of the sound that arrived to his ears was direct and the remaining 89% of the sound indirect.

1 forward firing driver = 11%
8 rearward firing drivers = 89%

So, the design of the 901 was no accident. It was a function of his research.

I look at Dr. Bose the very same way I look at Bob Carver - two absolute geniuses who's minds know no boundaries. However, each of their companies marketing departments also shared that philosophy . . . putting off many serious enthusiasts in the process. This compact system replaces an entire stack of traditional audio components . . . It also didn't help that mediocre was the norm (vs. exceptional) when talking about the actual products.

Now, I must admit that I've often wondered just how much sound I could coax out of a pair of properly set up Bose 901s in my space with real gear and real amplification - like my pair of MC2600s. [IIRC, the 901s in that bar (two pair) were powered by a pair of Crown MacroTech 3600s.] And, would the soundstage they cast better that of my big Altecs or McIntosh XRT22s?

Personally, I don't find the OP's post to be offensive. Cause replicating his report is exactly what I intend to do at some point. Of course, Ivan may also toss me out on my head.

[Rick721]

WOW !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BnVvZCYUAA

I heard BOSE is coming out with new Reference speakers soon !